Committees

Architecture Tour

Co-Chairs:

Joseph Lengeling, AIA
Julie Ann Engh, Assoc. AIA

Mission Statement:

Sharing visions and implementing plans for helping people understand and appreciate the built environment of New York City, through a varied program of architectural tours. As an organization of current practitioners, we pay particular attention to modern and contemporary architecture.

Tours Offered by Architecture Tour Committee

Boat Tours - AIANY and Classic Harbor Line present:

Classic Harbor Line’s fleet of 1920’s style yachts regularly depart from Chelsea Piers to offer insightful NYC architecture and infrastructure tours. We currently offer 5 distinct tours, all hosted by members of the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter. AIANY guides provide expert narration covering architecture and engineering landmarks from all eras as well as current urban planning and environmental issues impacting urban waterfronts.

Walking Tours

This tour examines the architecture of the Robert Moses-era superblocks south of Washington Square and also identifies proposed sites included in NYU's evolving 2031 campus plan. With Houston Street as a physical and ideological divide, the tour continues South to explore new construction in the protected SoHo Cast Iron Historic District. Washington Square Village, I.M. Pei's Silver Towers, Aldo Rossi's Scholastic Building and Jean Nouvel's 40 Mercer Street, as well as the Little Singer Building and the Haughwout Building, are included.

New Architecture on Washington Square, Cooper Square, Bond St. and New Bowery

Explore new architecture on Washington Square, Cooper Square, Bond Street and the Bowery. Highlights include Morphosis' Cooper Union Engineering Building, Bond Street's residential developments, SANAA's New Museum, Foster's Sperone Westwater Gallery, as well as various 19th Century works in these enduring N.Y.C. neighborhoods.

Modern Architecture in the West Village and New Buildings along the High Line

Discover lesser-known examples of Modern architecture in the West Village en route from Washington Square to the High Line; then view a stunning variety of new architecture in the Meatpacking District and West Chelsea, as well as the innovative design of the High Line around which they cluster. Included are buildings designed by Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Neil Denari, Annabelle Selldorf, Ennead Architects, Kohn Pedersen Fox, SHoP, Joseph Urban, Albert Ledner, Edgar Tafel and others.

9/11 Memorial and World Trade Center

This architectural walking tour offers participants an opportunity to experience the 9/11 Memorial and to see the current state of construction at the World Trade Center site. We discuss the highly publicized competitions for the site's master plan and memorial; delve into the design and development of each of the main structures including the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, office towers and transportation hub; and consider the influence and concerns of the different stakeholders by comparing the initial winning plans for rebuilding at Ground Zero to the final, much altered, designs that we see today.

Discover the evolution of this pioneering cultural complex of the mid-20th Century. Explore its origins as a Robert Moses' urban renewal project announced in 1956, through its design and construction by some of our most iconic Modern architects in the turbulent 60's, to its reimagining by Diller, Scofidio and Renfro in this past decade for the New York of the 21st Century.

Tour Leader: John Kriskiewicz, Assoc. AIA

Roosevelt Island: "New Town In Town" to FDR Four Feedoms Park

View a sampling of buildings from four centuries on the island formerly known as Blackwell's Island, later Welfare Island and since 1973 Roosevelt Island- culminating in the recently completed FDR Four Freedoms Park designed by Louis Kahn in 1973. Other highlights include the restored Blackwell farmhouse and Good Shepherd Chapel, James Renwick's Smallpox Hospital ruins, 1970s UDC housing by Johansen & Bhavnani and Sert, Jackson & Associates, and recent housing by Gruzen Samton, among other works.